Guru, Still one of the best yet

Iconic, experimental-minded rapper Guru is in a coma after suffering cardiac arrest this weekend. With DJ Premier, he founded the quintessentially New York hip-hop duo Gang Starr, delivering hard-edged battle rhymes in a widely imitated deadpan monotone. In his series of solo Jazzmatazz albums, he collaborated with the likes of Brandford Marsalis, Roy Ayers, Ramsey Lewis and others, making him one of the first MCs to mix hip-hop and jazz—now a genre standard. And for those of you unfamiliar with his musical career, perhaps you recognize him as 8-Ball in Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories. We wish him well.
—EMERSON DAMERON